Four Colo. business schools make world's top 100 list

The Aspen Institute ranked the University of Denver Daniels College of Business No. 15, the University of Colorado Boulder's Leeds School of Business No. 21, Colorado State University No. 27 and the University of Colorado Denver No. 53 on its list of the world’s top 100 business schools released Wednesday.

“Beyond Grey Pinstripes” is the name of the institute’s biannual survey and alternative ranking of business schools, based on unique criteria.

“The number of business schools teaching MBA students to examine the social, environmental and ethical impacts of business decisions continues to grow, spurred by the global economic downturn, rising student demand and increased faculty willingness to explore those issues,” the institute said in a news release.

There were 149 business schools from 22 countries that participated in the survey.

Daniels ranked 20th in the 2009-2010 survey.

“At Daniels, we believe there is a greater purpose to business and that it can — and must — be a driving force behind positive change,” Daniels Dean Christine Riordan said in a news release. She cited examples of students working toward that goal, “from village banks in Cambodia to big banks on Wall Street, and from the Peace House for AIDS orphans in Tanzania to students building a net zero impact home in Denver.”

The top five schools were the Stanford University Graduate School of Business; York University, Schulich School of Business in Canada; IE University in Spain; Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business; and the Yale School of Management.